


Cyber Celebration

by Morphfang



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe-Gamers, No Beta, Pre-Relationship, not that Shinji isn't trying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:33:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25286890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morphfang/pseuds/Morphfang
Summary: how to celebrate your antisocial almost-boyfriend's birthday.
Relationships: Hirako Shinji & Kurosaki Ichigo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Cyber Celebration

Today was July 15th. _His_ birthday. Shinji had been waiting for this day. Ichigo had been dreading it. Not that Shinji cared, the other player could get so riled up over such stupid things.

Humming as he walked through the dense underbrush, the blonde couldn't help but grin as he thought of the other male. Oh his reaction was going to be _priceless._ He just wished he could see his actual face instead of his avatar.

Soul Society was a popular VR-RPG famous for the freedom it gave the player. New items were created almost every day, a new village was created every month! But the biggest reason it was so popular was how much creative library one could have when making their avatar.

Want to be a human? Sure. A chimera? Go right ahead. Some unholy amalgamation of an ogre and a goblin? Have fun. Shinji himself had decided to go with demihuman, making his avatar look exactly like he did in real life, just with cat ears and a tail. It made most other players underestimate him, which was one of the worst things you could do in this game.

Especially since he was the fifth strongest player on the server. He didn't get that rank by being weak. He had grinded for _months_ to get that rank, his party had even thrown him a _party_ when he finally got into the top five. Hiyori had complained about just how big his ego was going to get.

Which, fair. But in his defense he kept his mouth shut about his rank _most_ of the time. Only ever revealing his true power after the fight was over. It's not like he let it get to his head.

Not anymore at least. Not after Ichigo.

Hyped up on adrenaline and pride, he had immediately started plotting ways to usurp higher leveled players less than twenty-four hours after. The thought of challenging someone higher than himself and winning was exhilarating. The one he had been most pumped up about fighting was Zangetsu, the strongest player at rank 0. Finding and fighting him had quickly become something of an obsession for the blonde.

Which, as it turned out, that wasn't the best idea. Zangetsu was _extremely_ reclusive, even finding somewhere he'd been to was difficult. Not to mention that no one seemed to know what species he was or what guild he belonged to. Finding him was considered impossible, but once Shinji had his mind on something he refused to give up. He was going to find Zangetsu if it was the last thing he did.

Then he stumbled across the other during a stroll. Quite literally.

After picking himself up and turning to glare at the thing that tripped him, he nearly had a heart-attack at the creature's player name.

_Zangetsu._

He immediately challenged the other, only to be met with a _shut-up-and-leave-asshole_ look from the other player. So he pointed his sword at him. The dragon looked the other way. Not one to be ignored, Shinji had lunged at him, only to get _absolutely_ destroyed. The fight, if it could be called that, had lasted a whole five minutes. Maybe less.

Laying on the forest floor, bloodied and exhausted, the blonde felt oddly satisfied. Sure, his ego was bruised, like his ribs, but he had done what he had set out to accomplish. He had found and fought Zangetsu, who was currently looking at him like he lost his mind.

"Why are you smiling, you just got your ass handed to you."

"Because I'm happy."

"Weirdo." The blonde let out an amused huff, only to whine when the other nudged him. "You're going to bleed out at this rate. Do you have a healer or am I going to have to nurse your dumbass back to health?"

"My party's currently offline, so I guess yer playin' nurse." He smirked at the other player, letting out a second whine when the other picked him up. "Be gentle!"

"Any pain you feel is your own fault asshole."

"My name's not _asshole!_ "

"Fine. Sakanade then." The two ended up squabbling for the entirety of Shinji's stay in the other's care.

Not that there weren't moments of peace. Halfway through his recovery they exchanged their _actual_ names and ended up talking about their lives in the real world.

Zangetsu's real name was Ichigo, he worked as a librarian and a freelance writer. He preferred being alone and liked Shakespeare, he also had a cat named Kon. He was kind of like Shinji's opposite, who worked at a nightclub and loved being the life of the party. After a week of sharing the same virtual living space, the two could be considered something akin to friends.

Which is why Shinji was currently trekking through a forest.

Grunting as he tore his clothes free from yet _another_ bush, he perked up as his destination entered his sight. A small clearing in front of a mountain, a cave carved into its surface. This was Ichigo's favorite place to _'nap'_ when he was exhausted. Ichigo refused to admit he was hiding from others, even when Shinji pointed out that he spent a good _eighty five_ percent of his time in the damn thing. But he could see the appeal of staying in such a place.

The clearing itself was _beautiful_. To the right of the cave's entrance was a lake full of kun peng pygmies and surrounded by mana willows. A field of chaos orchids and glow lilies expanded over the cave's left side. The garden was frequented by the local runic deer population, but young two-tailed kitsunes could occasionally be seen running through the flora. The cave's entrance was hidden behind a wall of lush green vines. Just stepping into the clearing improved his mood drastically.

A swish of his hand saw his outfit shift into something more...revealing.

Taking a deep breath, the blonde began yelling into the cave.

"It's me Ichi~berry! Come on out! Ichi~chan! Don't make me come in there! Ichi~baby!"

"If you don't shut up I'll punt your ass into next week." A voice growled from within. Shinji grinned and backed up as Ichigo walked out into light.

Ichigo's avatar was a black feathered dragon that stood eleven feet at the shoulder with a thin serpentine body and four muscular legs. Two pairs of horns sat upon his head, just behind his ears, two pointed towards the sky, two encircled his head pointing towards the ground. They were orange, gradually bleeding into red with flicks of gold. His eyes were brown, indicating he was calm. If the other player was actually mad at him his scleras would black and his pupils gold with a light blue edge. Just under his eyes were thin lines of white, stretching the length of his eyes with another line sprouting downwards in the middle. Ichigo may not be the biggest or the flashiest dragon in Soul Society, but he was by far the _fastest_. His speed was what helped him gain his rank as strongest. You can't hit what you can't catch afterall.

"What the fuck are you wearing?"

Hirako's grin widened. He had received this particular outfit from Benihime, his eyes alight with amusement when he had handed it over. 

Two sheets of soft bluish green fabric hung from the front and back of a gold ring that hugged the blonde's waist, a pair of matching gold bracelets encircled his wrist. A thin black collar embedded with a blood ruby rested on his throat. Black evening gloves stretched over his arms, matching the thigh-highs covered his legs. But other than that, he was completely exposed.

He pulled out a box wrapped in an elegant dark blue and held it out up towards Ichigo's face.

"Got ya somethin', since it's yer special day an' all." The dragon cautiously picked the box from his hands and Shinj let his arms fall down to his sides before continuing. "Figured ya'd see more use in 'em than me."

Carefully pulling back the wrapping, Ichigo's eyes widened as they took in what was inside.

There were several items within the box, some rarer than others, but each had been crafted with care. The most common items, both ingame and in the box, were scarves. Each one stripped with two different colors. Some were red and gold, others were black and purple. The rarest item, on the other hand, was a full set of rose gold mythril dragon armor. The helmet was studded with various enchanted gems, a ruby surrounded by labradorite decorated its chestplate, and mana crystals lined its back.

There were a few other items that caught the dragon's eye: a silver obsidian dagger with a bornite hilt with various runes decorating the blade, a music box, several miniature monster sculptures made out of gemstones and rare metals. They would all make great additions to his hoard. Ichigo looked at the blonde, who was grinning happily. His expression reminded the dragon of a puppy waiting to be praised. Which was ironic considering his avatar was a _feline_ demihuman.

"Well? Do ya like 'em?"

"Yes, it would seem you have a good eye from picking out beautiful things." The blonde brightened at the compliment, eyes sliding shut as his grin stretched ear to ear, skipping as he followed the dragon inside the cave.

While the inside wasn't nearly as bright and lively as the outside, it certainly had its appeal. Various glowing crystals decorated the cave walls, adorning the cool tunnels with multiple hues of light. They were the only sources of light in the tunnels of Ichigo's lair. Magic fire was only used in the main chambers.

Plopping down onto one of the _many_ piles of blankets, Shinji watched as Ichigo meticulously arranged his gifts around his home. For such a dangerous creature, the other player sure had a soft spot for soft things. The main chamber was _covered_ in all sorts of soft fabric and plush items, even the tunnels openings and doorways were covered with fabric. Enchanted fabric, but fabric nonetheless. Once the dragon had finished his task, he turned to look at Shinji.

"Just gonna lay there? You really are lazy."

" _Excuse_ _me_ , I'll have ya know I _am_ , in fact, bein' _highly_ productive."

"What are you doing that's productive? Warming the blankets?"

" _Hey!_ Blanket warmin' is an extremely important job!" He shifted, pulling one of blankets over his shoulders. "But what I'm _really_ doin' is blessin' ya with my _sexy_ presence." Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"Of course, how could I be so blind. To have such a pretty person stoop so low as to exist in my lair, I must be the luckiest man alive." He dropped his head into Shinji's lap. "Perhaps you could _deign_ yourself to thread your fingers through this one's feathers as well."

"Perhaps I could." Ichigo's feathers were smooth and velvety soft, it was ridiculously hard to _stop_ brushing one's fingers through the fluff once you got started. Under normal circumstances, Ichigo would growl at any sort of physical interaction. But once every blue moon, and only when they were alone, the other male would let Shinji touch him. It would seem that this was one of those times. He hummed, tapping his fingers against the other's head. "Perhaps I _will_." The blonde pulled Ichigo's head closer, giving him easier access to the dragon's ears and horns. The proverbial sweet spots on a dragon.

Hearing Ichigo purr was always a strange experience. He always seemed to forget that the other purred, even if it didn't sound quite like purring. Feeling the other's throat vibrate against him was also a strange experience. Almost like a frontal massage, but just for his legs and abdomen. Then the fatigue kicked in.

He slumped forward, over Ichigo's head, sighing as his eyelids drooped. Apparently the walk had taken more out of him than he had originally thought. He pulled his arms back and rested his head against them. The blonde had wanted to _socialize_ with the other, not _nap!_ He pouted.

Ichigo let out a soft chuckle at Shinji's behavior. He heard more than saw him curl around the pile, the blankets firmly pressing his smaller body against Ichigo.

"You can take a nap if you want," Ichigo spoke softly, "I'll still be here when you wake up."

Shocked by the fact that Ichigo was _actually_ letting him sleep with him, the blonde could only stare at the other before squirming into a more comfortable position. He squeaked as feathers brushed against his skin.

"Sleep."

He did.


End file.
